Argentinos Jrs vs Instituto
Argentinos Juniors experienced a huge decline in their performance last Sunday and ended up losing 1-0 away at Banfield, who were sitting in the penultimate spot of the league table before the game. As a result, El Bicho saw their three-match winning streak in this competition coming to an end. However, Gabriel Milito’s men remain on 32 points, which is yet enough to occupy the last Copa Sudamericana berth in the aggregate table. In fact, Argentinos are on two consecutive victories at their own stadium in domestic action (having beaten Platense 1-0 and Defensa y Justicia 3-1). Captain Miguel Torren is available after recovering from a muscle problem.
Instituto returned to winning ways in the best possible moment: last Sunday, the team secured a deserved 1-0 home win in a heated city derby against Belgrano, playing as hosts at Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes. La Gloria stopped a five-match winless streak of two draws and three losses to make it 25 points in the Liga Profesional and escape the bottom spot of the point-average table (occupied by Sarandi Arsenal by far). On a sorry note, Instituto are on six consecutive defeats on away turf since beating Boca Juniors 3-2 in March.
Argentinos should recover from their weekend unexpected defeat when they host this irregular Instituto that has been awful playing away games.